Tianya Pavilion.
“What did you say?”
Li Feng was roused from sleep by Zhong Shuhui. When he heard her words, he could hardly believe his ears. At the last Fengyuan Group press conference he had already taught a harsh lesson to so many people, yet only a few days had passed and someone was targeting Fengyuan Group again. Were these people truly tired of living?
Who wanted to deal with Fengyuan Group? Li Wu? Qin Feng? Fu Yanxiong? Or someone else?
A cold glint flashed in Li Feng’s eyes. “Zhong Shuhui, do you know who is masterminding this from behind the scenes?”
“Young Master, this time the opponent’s methods are different from before. They are not using plots or schemes, but the official power of Tianhai City. Our intelligence in this area is extremely limited,” Zhong Shuhui said, shaking her head.
“Official power?” Li Feng frowned. Using official power was clearly beyond his expectations. After all, for people like them, official power was strong but came with significant restrictions. For example, if he could, he would never resort to official power himself.
“Yes. This time practically every relevant department in Tianhai City has been mobilised,” Zhong Shuhui said, handing Li Feng the detailed intelligence report while adding, “By now the Young Madam has probably already received the news at the company.”
Li Feng frowned again. The opponent using official power left him feeling somewhat helpless. After all, every game had its rules, and while he was in the game he could not break those rules himself.
“Let Yuanyuan handle this herself. Give her the relevant intelligence. I believe she will find a way. If it really comes to it, we will step in again,” Li Feng said after thinking for a moment. He trusted that in this matter Hu Yuanyuan was far more suitable to deal with it than he was. Killing a few people he could manage, but handling matters like this he had no confidence at all.
“Understood,” Zhong Shuhui nodded.
“By the way, when you all left the underground city, was there any trouble?” Li Feng asked.
“There was a little, but it has all been resolved,” Zhong Shuhui replied.
“Right now Eagle Eye’s main focus is on that side. Our identities must never be exposed,” Li Feng said. Thinking of those Innate realm experts in the underground city made him uneasy. After all, they were not people he could currently contend with, not even with the Wind-Thunder Array talismans he possessed.
“Young Master, rest assured, I understand,” Zhong Shuhui nodded. In her heart she deeply admired Li Feng. Not only had he obtained so many treasures in the underground city, he had also netted three billion. Since the Ancient Martial Artists Association was founded, probably only Li Feng had ever achieved that.
Li Feng took out two jade bottles and handed them to Zhong Shuhui. “These are for you. I hope you can raise your cultivation as quickly as possible.”
“Young Master, this is…?” Zhong Shuhui accepted the bottles and asked curiously.
“One drop of Thousand-Year Ice Dew and three Solid Foundation Pills,” Li Feng answered.
“What?” Zhong Shuhui’s expression changed dramatically. She hurriedly said, “Young Master, absolutely not, these items are far too valuable, I cannot accept them.”
Zhong Shuhui had never imagined that Li Feng would actually give her Thousand-Year Ice Dew and Solid Foundation Pills. Based on auction prices, these were worth at least several billion. Even if she sold herself it would not be enough.
“What do you mean ‘cannot’? Zhong Shuhui, you are my trusted aide, but your strength is genuinely too weak. At this rate, it won’t be long before you can no longer help me. I don’t want to leave you behind. The only solution is to raise your strength as fast as possible,” Li Feng said gravely.
Hearing this, a trace of sadness flickered in Zhong Shuhui’s eyes.
Though she was reluctant to admit it, she knew Li Feng spoke the truth. Li Feng was already at the eighth level of the Acquired realm. It would not be long before he became an Innate realm expert. With her current strength, helping him would be impossible.
“But…” Zhong Shuhui looked at the jade bottles with burning desire, yet she still hesitated.
“There are no buts. Zhong Shuhui, if you want to keep following me, raise your strength quickly. To others these Thousand-Year Ice Dew and Solid Foundation Pills are priceless, but to me, Li Feng, they are not rare at all. I obtained them for nothing,” Li Feng said.
“Thank you, Young Master.” A glint flashed in Zhong Shuhui’s eyes, as though she had just made an important decision.
Li Feng smiled, watched Zhong Shuhui leave, then took out the jade bottle containing Thousand-Year Ice Dew.
After the trip to the underground city and hearing what Ge Feng said about Nine Dragon Jade, Li Feng felt he needed to raise his strength. The best way to do that was to consume Thousand-Year Ice Dew.
Li Feng sat cross-legged, adjusted himself to his optimal state, then opened the jade bottle. Inside were several drops of emerald-green liquid.
This emerald-green liquid was precisely Thousand-Year Ice Dew, formed only after countless drops of ice dew gathered and were purified over a thousand years.
Thousand-Year Ice Dew counted as an extremely rare natural treasure. Its formation not only required very specific geographical conditions, but also an immense amount of time to condense. Apart from certain special spaces, gathering this much Thousand-Year Ice Dew anywhere else was virtually impossible.
In alchemy, Thousand-Year Ice Dew had extremely wide applications. Many high-grade pills required it during refining. Even without using it for alchemy, consuming it directly brought enormous benefits to cultivators, greatly accelerating cultivation speed. Its effect far surpassed most auxiliary cultivation pills.
Li Feng did not know alchemy, so he could only take it directly. He glanced at the Thousand-Year Ice Dew in the bottle, then tipped one drop into his mouth.
The moment Thousand-Year Ice Dew entered his mouth it tasted sweet and fragrant. As he swallowed it, an unprecedented sensation of warmth instantly surged through his body, as though he had returned to his mother’s embrace.
This was Li Feng’s first time consuming Thousand-Year Ice Dew. He had thought this was simply how it felt, but unexpectedly, the warm feeling did not last long before an unprecedented wave of intense pain assaulted his meridians.
“Ah…”
The drastic contrast made Li Feng cry out involuntarily. Fortunately the agony did not persist. It quickly transformed into a vast torrent of energy that rampaged through his meridians and bones, as though it might explode at any moment.
Li Feng’s expression changed greatly. He could only grit his teeth against the sensation of impending explosion, circulate the Nine Heavens Heart Sutra, and absorb the energy.
As he absorbed it, the qi vortex in his dantian grew continuously larger.
Originally at the early stage of Qi Refining level six, his cultivation instantly reached the middle stage of level six.
Then it continued rising without pause, reaching the peak of Qi Refining level six.
Finally, with another breakthrough, he arrived at the early stage of Qi Refining level seven.
The qi vortex in his dantian changed circle after circle.
In the end, a jade-green glow appeared on the vortex.
Next, Li Feng consumed a second drop of Thousand-Year Ice Dew.
However, like other heavenly treasures, the first drop gave the greatest effect, while the second drop’s effect was already reduced by more than half.
For the entire Qi Refining realm, levels one to three were the early stage, levels four to six the middle stage, and levels seven to nine the late stage.
The energy required for the late stage was enormous, yet even so, after Li Feng consumed the second drop, the qi vortex in his body continued expanding and his strength kept rising.
When Li Feng took the third drop, the qi vortex in his dantian boomed. At the same moment he opened his eyes, a sharp glint flashing within them.
“Peak of Qi Refining level seven,” Li Feng murmured, a gleam in his eyes. Although he had not broken through to level eight, going from early level six to peak level seven with just three drops already satisfied him completely.
He still had a few drops left, but Li Feng knew that even if he consumed the rest, the effect would be minimal and it would only be wasteful.
Li Feng continued practising the Nine Heavens Heart Sutra for a while to consolidate his cultivation before stopping.
“The strength of peak Qi Refining level seven really is powerful.”
Feeling the surging power within his body, a glint flashed in Li Feng’s eyes. Qi Refining level seven corresponded to the peak of Acquired level nine, but whether he truly possessed the combat strength of Acquired level nine peak he did not know. He would only find out by testing it.
After savouring the power in his body, Li Feng took out the Divine Control Technique and began studying it.
The Divine Control Technique was a method of using divine sense. It allowed one to plant one’s divine sense in another person’s sea of consciousness and control them completely, making them obey every command. Unlike puppet techniques, people controlled by Divine Control retained their original personality; they simply gained an additional “master” in their heart.
Moreover, no one else could tell that the person had been controlled. Of course, this technique could only control those whose strength was lower than one’s own. If the target was stronger, not only would control fail, but one might even be counter-controlled.
Reading the description of the Divine Control Technique, Li Feng felt overjoyed. This was exactly what he needed right now. The combat strength of his Black Eagle team was not strong, nor was Zhong Shuhui’s. He lacked capable experts under his command. Now, with this technique, he could find ways to control a few experts and make them work for him.
Li Feng looked at the cultivation method for the Divine Control Technique and found it was not difficult. It was the most basic divine sense cultivation method, requiring extremely high divine sense from the practitioner, yet the actual practice was not hard, or rather, quite simple.
After reading it through once, Li Feng immediately began cultivating and soon discovered he had succeeded.
Li Feng was rather doubtful. Was the Divine Control Technique really this easy to cultivate? Would it actually work?
Then he realised he had been overthinking. With his divine sense already at the Acquired peak, if he had possessed a proper divine sense cultivation method earlier he might have broken through long ago. With his current divine sense, mastering the Divine Control Technique was naturally effortless.
After mastering the Divine Control Technique, Li Feng sensed a subtle change in his mental power, which had never shifted before. Though it was only a tiny change, Li Feng was certain that if he kept practising the Divine Control Technique, his divine sense would soon break through to the Innate realm.
At this moment, Li Feng felt an almost overwhelming urge to test the Divine Control Technique right away.
